


Summer of Like

by minthalo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bands, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Summer, Summer Love, Summer Romance, Summer of Like, Touring, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 16:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17410190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minthalo/pseuds/minthalo
Summary: Lance and Shiro’s bands are on tour together.They make for quick friends that develops into a quicker summer romance





	Summer of Like

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic is very loosely based off the speculated relationship between Pete Wentz and Mikey Way, for information on this please visit [This Powerpoint](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14xHeCyClKS4lAb05QYs7n6exi5KO0ovBeLwb9yNWYkk/edit?usp=sharing) I made about their history.  
> It is not necessary to know what Petekey is to read this fic though, there are just a few references here and there about them  
> Thank yous go to Amber, Em, and Abbey, all of whom had Petekey phases and encouraged me when I told them I was going to write a Shance fic based on the summer romance that was Petekey  
> And a special shout out to Veronica who will read this with a vague understanding of Petekey from all times I’ve ranted to them
> 
> For reference Here are the bands, the instruments they play, and their ages
> 
> D-List:  
> Lance, 19: Bass + Lead Singer  
> Keith, 20: Guitar  
> Hunk, 19: Drums
> 
> The PALadins:  
> Allura, 20: Lead Singer  
> Shiro, 23: Bass   
> Matt, 21: Guitar   
> Pidge, 17: Drums
> 
> Lotor and the Generals  
> Lotor, 21: Lead singer  
> Acxa, 21: Guitarist  
> Ezor, 20: Bass  
> Zethrid, 23: Drums

**June 27th 2018**

 

Lance knocks before pushing the door open to The PALadins bus. He takes the three small steps up and turns to find Matt sitting on the couch in the lounge area, packing up his backpack with a few things.

Lance makes his way over and sits next to him, turning and draping himself across his lap, over his backpack. Matt puts his hands on Lance’s side and leg, rolling him off and onto the floor. He lands with a thump and a groan.

“Matt, I’m bored.” Lance whines, spreading out like a starfish on the floor.

“Go hang out with your own band, Lance.”

“I can’t. Keith and Hunk went off to do a bunch of boring stuff that I don’t care about. Hunk is doing laundry and Keith is doing… Keith things and I want to do something fun. We have a real day off before we have to finish the drive to Phoenix, and I want to do something. Do something with me.”

“I can’t.” Matt says regretfully. “I have to go visit one of my aunts with Pidge before we leave tonight, it kind of sucks. Allura is off with Lotor today, doing whatever it is they do. She left a while ago.”

Lance sits up, frowning. “You suck. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Well, you could hang out with Shiro,” Matt suggests. “He’s on the hill behind the buslot, he saw some wild flowers or something and wanted to take some pictures of them.”

Lance hesitates, he doesn’t talk to Shiro much, in fact he hasn’t talked to Shiro the entire tour, granted they’ve only been on tour for about a week now. Shiro’s older than him, not by much, Lance is nineteen and Shiro is twenty three, and they don’t relate on as many things the way he does with Matt, Pidge, and Allura.

Allura is twenty, the first time Lance met her he was constantly flirting, calling her Princess, as her fans call her the Princess of their label, Altean records, bowing and kissing her hand. She shuts him down, rolling her eyes at every advance, but over time they grew close and he considers her one of his best friends.

Pidge is younger, only recently turned seventeen but graduated high school early so she could go on tour with her band. She got on well with Hunk and laughs at Lance’s stupid jokes, even when he’s making a fool of himself.

Matt being twenty one and a memelord Lance made friends with him immediately, and joins in often when he’s making a fool of himself, often to make his sister laugh.

But Shiro, Lance barely knows the man. He knows he’s the oldest member of their band, that he writes most of their lyrics and plays bass in most songs but will switch with Matt and play lead guitar on a few, but that’s about it.

He doesn’t know anything about him, but Lance really doesn’t want to be alone on their last day off in some random small town in the desert, two hours away from a real city.

“You said he was behind the busses?”

Matt nods, Lance tells him to have fun with his family as he gets up and walks off the bus. He makes his way behind all the busses and to see Shiro laying on his stomach, two hands on a camera, pointed at an orange wildflower.

Lance lays down on his stomach next to him, kicking his legs up behind him, crossing them at his ankles.

Shiro turns his head, giving Lance a half smile before going back to his camera, shifting it into another position.

“Hey, Lance. What’s up?” Shiro asks as he adjusts the focus on his camera.

“I’m bored and everyone has things to do. You free for the day?” He feels nervous, he doesn’t talk to Shiro ever, asking him to hang out is never something he had to do.

Shiro snaps the picture he was aiming for. He takes a look at the viewfinder, making sure he got the shot he wanted before sitting back up on his knees.

“Sure.” He gives Lance a grin. “We’re parked in a small town there has to be something we can do together.”

 

Being in a small town and not knowing anything about it means there isn’t anything they can do. They walked through downtown together, making small talk but really there was nothing more than a sad wooden park next to a local coffee shop.

A little ways up the road is a Walmart, it seems to be the only big name chain store in town, considering there isn’t even a Starbucks.

They walk up the path to the automatic doors at the entrance and Shiro shrugs, “come on, it’s the best thing we’ve seen all day.”

Lance nods, they’ve been walking around for an hour and he’s sick of being outside in the heat. They walk inside together, Shiro grabbing a cart out of habit.

They go straight over to the refrigerators, both getting bottles of water to drink before Shiro walks them through the aisles, neither having specific item they want to get.

Lance opens up snapchat and takes a selfie of the side of his face, showing his hair pressed against to his forehead with sweat. He captions it ‘Arizona ur too hot’ and posts it to his public story.

He has a solid following on twitter and snapchat that grows almost every day as his band gains popularity, especially with how often the shows happen on this tour.

Lance pockets his phone and takes a drink of his water, turning to look at Shiro as they walk past the bicycles in the back.

“Shiro, why do you have a cart?”

The older man shrugs, “Habit, also if we’re here long enough Matt will text or call me to pick up something he wants or the bus needs.”

Lance nods, understanding.

It’s quiet for another moment before Shiro clears his throat, “you know, it’s empty now… wanna get inside? I can run with you through the aisles.”

Lance turns to look at him, “how fast we talkin?”

Shiro turns to his side, grabbing the nearest bike helmet, a flowery blue one, and presses it into Lance’s chest. “Put this on.”

Lance’s face breaks into a mischievous grin, he takes the helmet and puts it on before getting to the side of the cart and climbing inside.

“I can get inside of the cart, but no promises on being able to get back out.” He says, securing the strap on the helmet and adjusting his legs.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you out if you need it. Now you’ll need to help look out for anyone who’ll bust us. We can’t have us getting kicked out of the only store in this town.”

Lance nods and puts his arms on the side of the cart, stabling himself inside. Shiro puts his hands on the handle and pushes him out of the bike aisle. He looks around for any employees before beginning to run across the store to the frozen food section.

Lance pulls out his phone, quickly opening up snapchat on the face camera and filming Shiro behind him, pushing him. Shiro winks at the camera and sticks his tongue out.

Lance is sure to add that to his story for everyone to see.

They weave through each aisle, passing by the baking sections along with the cleaning supplies. As they’re running through the chip aisle Lance grabs a family size bag of sour cream and onion from the rack and tucks it between his legs.

Lance laughs in the cart, keeping his head up, looking around for any workers that could bust them. Shiro gets to the ice cream aisle before giving the cart a heavy push and letting go.

Lance momentarily freaks out at the loss of control, he turns around only to see Shiro’s not behind him anymore. He feels the cart suddenly break and he’s thrown forward, the top of the helmet hitting the front of the cart, his head by his feet.

He sits back up to see Shiro’s hands on the cart, him grinning wide in front of him. “I told you, you’d need the helmet.”

Lance throws his head back and laughs, this adventure with Shiro is turning out to be a lot more fun than he originally thought it would be. He unbuckles the helmet and sets it by his feet.

“Yeah, you did, and you were so right.”

Shiro grins and moves back to the front of the cart, his hands on the handles, pushing Lance out of the food section and over back by the electronic media section when they hear two teen aged girls talking about Shiro’s band, The PALadins.

They’re holding the album up and talking about how they have tickets to Warped Tour just because they want to see them live.

Shiro smiles down at Lance before pushing him closer to the two girls and clears his throat. “Wow, The PALadins? I hear their bassist is a dick.”

The two girls whip around with an angry expressions before looks of shock cover their faces. Shiro grins wide as the two step back, their arms reaching for each other as they look in front of them in disbelief, The PALadins bassist is really standing in front of them.

“Oh, oh my god! Y-You’re Shiro! You are the bassist!”

Shiro laughs and nods, “yes! I am the bassist!” 

“I love you!” The other girl yells, not able to contain her emotions.

Shiro gives her a soft smile, “thank you. I couldn’t help but overhear that you two are going to the Warped show tomorrow in Phoenix to see us. You don’t know how much that means to me, all of us really but I’m the only one here right now. Especially since it’s a few hours away from here.”

“We only know a few other bands playing at the show, but when we heard that you were going to be there we had to get tickets. We’re so excited. I’m Emily by the way, this is Kelly.”

Lance laughs lightly in the cart, he finds the interaction adorable, Shiro playfully teasing them like that, pretending to insult their favorite band that he’s in, it’s definitely Lance would do. They’re a lot more similar than he originally thought.

“Oh my god, you’re Lance! From D-List! That’s the other band we know at Warped!” Kelly basically shouts when she notices Lance scrunched up in the cart.

Lance grins, “That I am!”

“We didn’t know you two hung out together! I’ve only ever seen Lance with Allura or Pidge and Matt.”

Shiro scoffs and throws an arm around Lance, squeezing his shoulder, “What are you talking about, Lance and I hang out all the time.”

Lance nods, “we’re the best of friends.”

The girls smile, Kelly opens her mouth to ask a question but her phone goes off, she checks the message and curses.

“Em, we have to go home, mom needs us.”

“You two want a picture before you go?” Lance asks.

“Yes, please that would be so cool.”

The three of them crowd around Lance in the cart, Shiro, having the longest arm, takes the fan’s phone and snaps the picture for them.

He hands it back to her, “hey if you post it make sure to tag us, and hopefully we’ll see you two tomorrow.”

The girls nod and thank them before walking away. Shiro puts his hands back on the handle of the cart and moves in the opposite direction.

“They were so sweet,” Lance comments. 

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that most of our fans are basically angels.”

“Ours too” Lance says.

Less than a minute after Shiro’s phone buzzes, Matt texting him.

“What did I tell you, if we’re here long enough Matt is going to text me to get some stuff for the bus.”

Lance laughs, “Well, there’s plenty of room in the cart next to me.”

Shiro reads through the messages before typing out a quick reply. “He’s mostly just asking to buy some alcohol to bring back to the bus, you need anything else?”

“Uh, no I have these chips so I’m good.” He gestures to the bag still between his legs.

Shiro casually mentioning that he’s able to legally buy alcohol reminds Lance that there’s a bit of an age gap between the two of them, it’s not much, but Lance still only being nineteen years old, when it comes to alcohol he takes what he can get, usually by stealing it from parties.

Shiro pushes Lance into the alcohol isle, towards the beer, looking through all the brands, mostly looking at prices.

“Hey, what kind do you and your band drink?” Shiro asks, looking through two different brands.

“Uh, well we can’t exactly buy our own stuff, none of us have a fake, so we usually just drink at parties or take what we can get when we’re able to.” Lance says, shifting a bit in the cart.

He feels his cheeks heat up, feeling embarrassed because he’s so young. Shiro steps back to look at him, putting a case in the cart.

“Oh, that’s it? Come on man I could buy it for you, as long as you have the money to pay for it it’s not that big of a deal.”

Lance lights up, “wait, seriously? Dude that would be awesome!”

“Yeah, pick some stuff out, even liquor, I could teach you the best things to mix them with, my personal favorite is redbull and vodka.” Shiro puts another case of beer in the cart for Lance before pushing more towards the hard liquor. “You could stock up now so you don’t have to get much later, it’s what we do.”

“I never pegged your band to be hard partiers.” Lance says, sitting up on his knees in the cart as he looks a the alcohol.

“Not that often on our own bus, Pidge’s still really young and Matt doesn’t like when she’s around it, and she doesn’t like to take part in it either, being only seventeen she’ll only get drunk when it’s around people she trusts. Matt goes pretty hard at times, Allura does too, but usually it’s when she’s around other bands, mostly Lotor and his band.”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with her and Lotor anyway?” Lance asks, picking up a cheap bottle of vodka and putting it in the cart next to him.

“She hasn’t said anything about them being official or whatever, but I’m pretty sure they’re dating.”

Lance hums, his crush on her faded a long time ago, it’s no fun flirting with a girl who pays no romantic attention back. “That’s good, I hope. He seems nice at least.”

“Yeah, I don’t talk to him much, but when I have he’s been pretty cool.” 

 

They gather up everything they need from that aisle and Shiro takes them to the checkout. Lance gives Shiro cash for the alcohol while he pays for it all, showing his ID when they ask for it.

Shiro helps a struggling Lance out of the cart, Lance shifts his weight, trying not to put too much of it on Shiro’s prosthetic. Shiro sets him down and Lance dusts himself off, picking up his bags from the cart.

They’re a little heavy but it’s a short walk back to the bus lot, so neither mind. The busses will probably leave soon, making the small trip down to Phoenix to stop for the night.

“You know, my prosthetic can take a lot more weight than you think it can.” Shiro says as they walk up a hill.

Lance raises an eyebrow, “what do you mean?”

“I just felt you tipping your weight away from my fake arm, It’s a specially made arm to fit my body and handle as much as my regular arm can, it’s also so I can play my bass. It can handle your weight, the same way it can handle these heavy bags.” He lifts them up.

“Oh, I just didn’t want to take any chances I guess.” Lance tells him.

“I figured, but just so you know, you could probably hang off my shoulder and my arm would be fine though.”

Lance grins, “we’ll have to put that to the test.” He says as they walk up to the D-List bus door.

Shiro smiles back, “we should, another day though, I have to get back to my own band. It was fun hanging out today.”

“Yeah, it really was we should do it more often.” Lance says sincerely, he had a lot of fun with Shiro, much more than he was originally expecting.

Shiro walks away, back to his own bus as Lance opens the door to his own, walking up the small steps to the lounge area where Keith and Hunk are sitting, both occupied with their phones.

Hunk looks up when he hears Lance walk in, “Lance, where have you been all day, woah what did you buy?”

Lance drops everything onto the small kitchen counter they have towards the middle of their bus, “I was hanging out with Shiro all day!” He calls to the other two boys, “we went to Walmart, he bought us a whole bunch of booze come look!”

“Hey nice.” Keith high fives him before beginning to put everything Lance bought away in various places around the bus, now that they have alcohol of their own they won’t have to constantly mooch off other bands.

 

Later that night the three of them are in their bunks, the curtains all open, sometimes the three of them feel the need to be closer to each other and the curtains closed makes them feel cut off, and none of them really like that.

Lance can hear Hunk snoring across from him, the noise comforts him really, makes it easier to sleep, like a noise machine. He looks up at the ceiling of his bunk, Keith is on top of his own, his hand is dangling down, Lance can tell he’s not actually asleep either.

“Hey, Keith,” Lance starts, he speaks softly, not wanting to wake Hunk, even though he sleeps like a rock, “Shiro is like, really cool, why have we never hung out with him before?”

“Because when you weren’t being a human shitpost with Matt you were trying to get into Allura’s pants.” Keith says bluntly, Lance makes an insulted noise but Keith ignores it. “I’ve hung out with him a few times before, he’s pretty cool, kind of like a more mature you. You should hang out with him more.”

Lance hums, closing his eyes, “I think I will. Goodnight, Keith.” he reaches up and touches his fingers.

Keith takes his hand, squeezing it for a moment before loosening his grip, letting Lance take his hand back any time he wants. “Goodnight, Lance.”

 

**June 28th 2018**

 

The day after their Walmart Adventure Lance and Shiro haven’t had the chance to hang out, busy with prepping for their own sets and stuck in the busses with their own bands as they finish the drive to Phoenix. 

Lance has a chance to slip away before his own set and finds The PALadins on stage, they’re already playing, about halfway through their own set. Allura is bouncing around the stage, going from Matt and Shiro as she sings. She turns back to Pidge when she catches sight of Lance and lights up, giving him a wave with one hand as she holds the mic up to her mouth with the other.

Shiro turns his head, looking over at Lance standing behind Pidge’s drumset. He tips his head and winks at him, playfully sticking the tip of his tongue out. Lance fake swoons, exaggerating the movement, fanning himself with a grin.

Shiro laughs and ducks his head, turning back to the crowd. Lance leans back and stays for the rest of their set, nodding along to their songs, the best part about touring with so many other bands is they’re mostly in the same genre as his own, so Lance genuinely enjoys their songs.

 

D-List plays the last show that night, Shiro and Pidge hang out behind Hunk’s drumset, watching them play. Lance jumps around on stage, hanging off Keith as they sing into his mic together. Shiro mouths along to the words, his eyes following Lance around the stage, a smile on his face as he watches Lance’s full stage personality come out, just as energetic as he is normally, but this way it’s more accepted.

 

Several pictures and videos of Lance at The PALadins set as well as Shiro and Pidge at D-List’s float around twitter and instagram with varying captions, most of them are their fans interacting with each other, exclaiming how great it is the members of the two different bands are friends.

 

**June 29th 2018**

 

The next night when Shiro comes to watch D-List play their set, Lance brings him out and hands his bass off to him, letting Shiro cover his part to a song that Keith sings. Shiro gladly takes it over, it’s not hard to pick up the part, since he already knows it.

He’s confused for the moment, looking at Lance when he receives a large grin in response. Lance turns away from Shiro, running to the edge of the stage and jumps out into the crowd.

The crowd collectively cheers, loud screams coming out of them as they hold Lance up, everyone around him keeping him up, passing him around. The security scrambles, running around the crowd, trying to get Lance back, safe with them and away from the crowd.

Lance obviously doesn’t care, he loves being in the crowd like this, everyone around him singing the lyrics he wrote. Shiro grins wide along with Hunk at his drum set. Keith shakes his head, but he has a fond smile on his face as he sings his part of the song.

 

After their set Lance jumps on Shiro’s back as they walk to the venue, gently tugging on Shiro’s white tuft of hair.

“That was so cool! You should come to our sets more often, I love going into the crowd like that, having you there would be so cool!”

Shiro holds onto Lance’s legs, making sure he’s secure on his back and won’t fall off. “Yeah, I’ve noticed you like that. That’ll be fun, every couple shows to come play with you so you can sing or go into the crowd.” 

“Yeah! And I could play for you, if you want to go in!”

Shiro grins and bends down a bit when they reach the venue doors, “I’ll think about it.”

Lance jumps down, spinning away from him, “I’m at your sets anyway, and I know how to play your songs.”

 

Lance posts a photo that one of the photographers caught of himself crowd surfing, Shiro with his bass in the background of the picture. He captions it with a thank you to Shiro for covering his part while he surfs his own fans, along with a few surfing emojis.

 

**July 4th 2018**

 

The Fourth of July is an off day, and for once they’re not spending the day driving. They’ve arrived in Bonner Springs a day in advance, so they have the time to be outside and explore the city.

Since they arrived early the bands all collectively decided they’re going to spend this great American holiday participating in the more popular American tradition there is.

Getting Wasted.

A bunch of the bands on tour together find a park not too far from the bus lot, it’s where some of the locals are setting off fireworks over a small lake when it gets dark. There’s plenty of people already there, and it’s a fairly welcoming city, so everyone is happy to have the extra company of the bands.

 

An hour or so before the fireworks start, everyone is running around the bottom of the hill, a good distance away from the lake, most of them intoxicated in some way, whether it be drinking alcohol or smoking a bit of weed.

Allura is sitting on a blanket next to Pidge, she’s had a few beers, but not so many her speech is slurred and she doesn’t have a full understanding of what’s going on, she’s barely buzzed. Pidge is next to her, leaning on her side, she’s a bit drunk, but not so bad she’ll regret it terribly in the morning.

Matt trusts Allura to watch over his sister while she drinks, Pidge being only seventeen, and Allura being much more responsible, she takes this job pretty seriously and makes sure Pidge is by her side most of the night. Most of the people on this tour are older men, Allura doesn’t trust men around young girls.

They’re watching a very drunk Lotor attempting to wrestle with his drummer, Zethrid, but really it’s just Zethrid with one hand on Lotor’s chest, keeping him an arms length away from her, while he’s throwing his hands around frantically.

The rest of their band are on the grass next to Pidge and Allura, laughing at the exchange in front of them. Their bassist, Ezor, stands up, cheering her girlfriend on. 

Hunk and Keith disappeared without anyone noticing, they took a bottle of vodka, a few cans of redbull and slipped away from the group when no one was paying attention to them.

Lance hangs out with Matt and Shiro the whole time, until Matt runs away, joining Nyma, something about sparklers in beer cans. Lance wraps his arms around Shiro, he’s buzzed, a little tipsy but not that drunk, things are a little hazy, but not so unclear that his decision making is impaired.

When the sky gets darker Lance pulls on Shiro’s arm, dragging him up a large hill behind them, the fireworks are starting soon and he doesn’t want to miss them. They end up at the top of the hill, they have an amazing view of the sky, as well as one of everyone below them. 

Lance pulls Shiro down to sit, he leans on him, resting his head on his shoulder, comfortable and content. His stomach feels warm from the alcohol, he knows his cheeks are rosy and he’s a lot more touchy with Shiro than he really should be, but Lance can’t bring himself to care much at all.

As they wait for the fireworks to begin Lance thinks back to the past week, he’s spend most of his free time with Shiro, he’s been his usual flirtatious self too, all of it goes right over Shiro’s head. Lance has gotten tipsy around him before, and Shiro barely thinks of Lance kissing his cheek several times as anything more than friendly.

Shiro indulges him in soft cuddles and makes sure he gets back to his bus safe when he’s too drunk to handle himself. He’s funny and sweet and cheers Lance up whenever Keith and Hunk disappear without warning.

As the first few fireworks shoot up into the sky Lance admits to himself that he  _ likes  _ Shiro, and he isn’t sure if that’s a good or bad thing. He feels Shiro gasp when a particularly bright firework bursts in the sky, Lance looks up at him, catching the awed look on his face paired with a bright smile and Lance tells himself that this crush he has, it’s definitely a good thing. 

Lance looks back up at the sky, watching the multi colored fireworks burst high above them. “I don’t think I want this night to end.” He whispers.

Shiro doesn’t respond, and for a moment Lance thinks Shiro didn’t hear him at all, but then the arm around him shifts and Shiro’s hand finds its way over to Lance’s own.

 

The next day, before his set, Lance posts a picture of himself and Shiro on the hill together to his instagram. They’re not as cuddled up in the picture as they were most of the night, but their shoulders are touching, both their eyes on the sky. Lance is pointing up at the blue and purple fireworks bursting in the sky, and Shiro has a large smile on his face.

Matt took the picture on his phone when the two weren’t looking, he went up on the hill to check on the two of them, and found them like that, he couldn’t resist capturing the moment.

Lance loves the picture, he captions it with two firework emojis.

 

**July 9th 2018**

 

Less than a week later they have another off day, they’ve been spending most of it driving to the next city over, but half way through they stop in a random small town for a few hours, giving the bands time to explore where they are before they have to move again.

Lance finds Shiro early on, right after they stopped Keith and Hunk slipped away before Lance could follow them. Shiro is alone, his camera in hand, he was planning on going into town to find some things to photograph, and when Lance told him he was alone it became something they could do together.

They walk around the downtown of whatever small town they’re in at the moment, neither of them caught the name of it. Shiro takes pictures around it, here and there, whenever he finds something worth it.

There are a lot of cute little shops that have small creative designs in their windows, or adorable shelf displays. He also sneaks a few of Lance as well, when the other boy isn’t paying attention. Some of Shiro’s favorite pictures to take are candid shots of people in their natural state, not posing for a photo.

They’re walking around the town for around twenty minutes when Lance pulls his phone out of his white denim jacket, receiving a text from Keith.

“Hey, Shiro, there’s a CVS up here, you mind if we stop in and grab something for Keith?”

Shiro snaps a picture of a small flowery bench and stands up straight, “Yeah, sure.”

He lets the camera hang around his neck and walks with Lance into the store, letting him lead the way to the medical aisle, spending time looking through the different brands of advil, trying to see what’s the cheapest for the most pills.

As Lance looks through them Shiro wanders off into a different part of the store, by the time Lance stands back up, the bottle he wants in his hand, Shiro is halfway across the store. Lance stands on his toes and looks around, finding him in the hair care section, crouched down, looking at different bottles of hair dye.

“Hey, what’re you lookin’ at?” Lance bends to his level.

“Hair dye, I’ve been thinking about doing something with the white part of my hair in the front, was seeing if they had anything I liked.”

Lance reaches up and runs his fingers through Shiro’s hair, touching only the white tuft, avoiding the black. “That would be cute, you could do like a hot pink or something, maybe pastel like the way Allura has those two strips of her hair a light blue and the other a light pink.”

Shiro scrunches his nose up, “no way, if I’m dying my hair any color it’ll be like a dark purple, nothing pastel, and definitely not hot pink.”

Lance hums, taking his hand out of Shiro’s hair and turns back to the shelves, looking through the colors before finding one that sounds like what Shiro is talking about. He pulls it out and holds it up to show him.

“Like this?”

Shiro takes it with a smile, “yeah, that’s exactly what I want.”

“You know I think I have a nail polish this same color. You should get it, we’re stopped for another few hours, that’s enough time for me to dye your hair. We can do it on my bus and then surprise everyone with your new hair.”

“Yeah, that’ll be great. Hunk and Keith won’t mind?”

Lance shakes his head, “Nah, they’ll be fine, if they’re even on the bus at all. Lately they’ve been together more and more often, leaving me alone, it’s weird. I never know what they do and they always give me some vague answer when I ask where they’ve been.”

Shiro hums, “that is weird, but probably not that important. Come on, let’s check out now and get back to your bus.”

“Yeah, you’re right it’s probably nothing, and anyway it’s not that bad being left alone, because I can always find you.” Lance grins at Shiro.

They make their way back to the bus lot and onto D-List’s bus. Lance was right, both Keith and Hunk are gone, so they’re alone. They have another few hours before the busses leave, so they have enough time to get this done.

Lance places the bag on the table and pulls everything out one by one, laying it all out in front of them. He goes into the back and finds a few towels along with an oversized shirt Shiro can wear that Lance won’t care if it gets messed up, of course oversized on Lance means tight on Shiro.

Lance wraps Shiro in a towel and clips it with a hair clip in the back so it stays on. He puts towels around the floor just in case and pulls out his phone, opening snapchat and taking a picture of Shiro sitting like this, posting it to his story with the caption ‘what’s happening here’ along with a few eye emojis. 

“When was the last time you washed your hair?” Lance asks, running his fingers through Shiro’s hair.

“Last night.”

“Perfect, now you just want the white part done?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter if you get it on the black anyway, it won’t show through.” Shiro says.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Lance picks up the box and opens it, taking everything out, he pulls on the gloves first, protecting his hands from any dye bleeding through, before beginning to mix the dye in a small bowl, stirring it with the brush provided.

“This kind of looks like a paint brush.” Lance lifts the brush up, looking over it while it drips dye back into the bowl.

“Well, yeah, Lance. You’re basically painting the dye on my hair.”

“... Huh. I never thought of it like that.”

Shiro smiles, shaking his head amused, “of course you didn’t.”

Lance sticks his tongue out at the older man and stands up, “shush, now hold still.”

Shiro closes his eyes and lets Lance stand over him and part the small amount of white hair he has. Lance pulls it into parts and pins them back before taking the hair dye and painting each strip white. 

It doesn’t take long, Lance is done within fifteen minute, successfully covering every inch of Shiro’s white hair in dark purple dye. He steps back with a large grin, setting the bowl down on the towel along with the brush.

“Perfect, now we wait for a bit, then I’ll rinse it out in the bathroom sink and blow dry it.” Lance takes off the gloves and sets them next to the bowl on the towel. 

He takes his phone out again and snaps a picture of Shiro’s unsuspecting face, putting a large heart emoji over his hair

“While we wait you should paint your nails so we match.” Shiro suggests.

Lance lights up, “that’s a fantastic idea, Shiro!” 

He runs out of the room and goes to the bunks, rustling through his bags, finding the nail polish in the pocket of a backpack. Lance comes back and sits across from Shiro, placing his hands down and begins to paint his nails.

“You don’t have to keep calling me, Shiro, you know.” Shiro says, watching Lance paint his thumb nail.

Lance tilts his head, “what do you mean? What else would I call you?”

“You know Shiro isn’t my first name, you can call me Takashi.”

Lance lifts his head up, meeting the other man’s eyes. “You mean that?”

“Yeah, we’re friends, I’d like to think we’re close friends, you don’t always have to be so formal with me, you can call me Takashi.”

Lance grins, he looks back down at his hands, “well then,  _ Takashi,  _ I like to think of us as close friends too.”

Shiro smiles back and makes small talk with Lance as they wait for the dye to set in his hair and Lance’s nail polish to dry.

As they’re talking Hunk and Keith come back to the bus, walking inside only to see the two of them in the makeshift kitchen, towels covering just about every surface area.

“Uh, Lance.” Hunk starts, grabbing their attention.

Lance grins, smiling at the two of them, “Hey guys, I was wondering when you two were coming back, where did you guys go?”

“What the hell are you doing?” Keith asks, avoiding the question.

“Dying my white hair purple.” Shiro states the obvious.

“We can see that, why?”

“We were bored.” Lance shrugs, “it’s time to wash it out now, put your face in the sink, Takashi.” 

Lance stands up, his nails are basically dry now, running them under cold water with Shiro’s hair won’t mess them up at all. Keith and Hunk trade looks at the use of Shiro’s first name but neither comment on it.

Shiro stands up with him, tipping his head forward into the sink as Lance detaches the faucet head and begins to rinse out all the dye from Shiro’s hair. Hunk goes off to the bathroom and pulls out Lance’s blow dryer, bringing it back to the kitchen along with a round brush that Keith claims he doesn’t use, but totally does.

“Keith take my phone and put this on snapchat.”

Keith stands and pulls Lance’s phone out of his back pocket. Lance wiggles his butt and Keith rolls his eyes lightly hitting Lance’s ass with the phone. 

Keith unlocks Lance’s phone, he knows the password already, a four digit number code, and pulls up snapchat. He focuses on Lance, recording him rinsing out Shiro’s hair, careful not to get the color of the water. Lance grins at camera and Shiro laughs, his voice echoing around the metal sink.

Keith posts it to Lance’s story and places his phone down, “People are going to go nuts, you know. They’ve noticed you two hanging out more, there are a bunch of pictures of you guys at each other’s shows. Plus the last four instagram pictures have been you two together, and your stories, both instagram and snapchat has been Shiro almost every day.” 

Lance blushes lightly and looks away from Keith, focusing on Shiro’s hair, “So? What about it.”

Shiro lifts his head out of the sink, drying it off with the towel that was clipped around his shoulders, “yeah, we’re close friends, it’s not like it’s a secret.”

Lance’s face falls at the word ‘friends’ but quickly recovers, a smile returning as quick as it left, but not before both Hunk and Keith notice. Shiro pulls the towel off and mirrors Lance’s smile.

“How does it look?”

“Great, it’ll look better after I blow dry it, sit back down.” Lance picks up the brush and blowdryer that Hunk set down on the table.

Keith and Hunk begin to pick up all the towels on the floor and counter, rinsing out the brush and bowl they used, now that they dying part is over, there’s no need to have the towels everywhere.

“Lance you’re on laundry duty next off day, and I mean everything we have, since you dirtied up most of these towels.” Keith says, arms full of said dirty towels.

“No problem, we have one tomorrow, if we stick to the schedule we’ll get to Tennessee by tomorrow morning, I’ll wash all our sheets too, since we haven’t done that like, all tour.” Lance plugs in the blow dryer and pulls Shiro’s head back, styling his hair with Keith’s brush.

Lance finishes drying Shiro’s hair pretty quickly, he turns off the blow dryer and sets the brush down, letting Shiro go look in the mirror while he finishes cleaning up the small kitchen. He comes back a few minutes later, everything picked up.

“It looks great, I love it.” He grins wide.

Lance matches it, his face lighting up, “I love it too, come on let’s get some pictures.” 

He takes his phone and puts Shiro in the small area of the bus that has a nice background for pictures. He snaps a few of them, getting Shiro to make some nice faces. Once Lance is satisfied he pushes his way into Shiro’s personal space and takes a few selfies, using his hand to cover his mouth to show off his matching nails, he catches Shiro leaning closer to him, eyes shut and mouth open in a loud laugh.

That one is Lance’s favorite.

“The busses are leaving soon, I want to see Pidge, Allura, and Matt’s reactions.” Lance pulls away, putting his phone in his pocket after he sends every good picture he took to Shiro’s phone.

“Keith, Hunk, I’ll be back in a bit!” Lance shouts, taking Shiro’s hand to lead him off the bus.

 

Lance busts through The PALadins bus door with his free hand, the whole band is used to Lance’s extravagant entrances by now, but they usually happen when he’s looking for Shiro, not when he’s dragging Shiro around. 

Allura, Matt, and Pidge are all sitting in the lounge area, Pidge on her laptop while Allura and Matt are curled on opposite ends of the couch, half watching a movie, half scrolling through their phones.

Lance walks in first, making sure Shiro is out of sight before clearing his throat, gathering everyone’s attention. The three others look up from their devices and look at Lance, “hey, Lance, what are you doing here? We’re about to leave.”

“I know, but I need to see your reactions to this.” Lance says, bouncing on his toes with a large smile across his face.

“Oh my god, what did you do?” Allura sits up, “Is Shiro okay?”

“Shiro, how many limbs do you have?” Matt calls out.

“Still three!” Shiro shouts.

“Oh thank god.” Matt sighs in relief.

“I did change something about him, so brace yourself.” Lance says, half giggling, “Shiro, come on out!”

Lance steps aside and Shiro walks next to him, into the light, letting everyone see his new hair. Pidge gasps and sits up straight, her phone pushed off her lap and onto the couch next to him. 

“Your hair!” Allura gasps, shocked, but she’s smiling.

“It looks amazing!” Matt exclaims, standing up and going over, running a hand through the other man’s purple fluff.

“I know right.” Lance smiles proud, of himself.

“And look, Lance painted his nails to match.” Shiro lifts his hand up to show them, holding it out for the others to see.

“It looks great,” Pidge says, honestly impressed with his hair dying skills.

Matt drops his hand down to his side, “it really does, and Lance the busses are about to leave, you should just spend the night here instead of trying to rush back to your own bus, you can go back to Keith and Hunk in the morning.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea-”

“No, stay with us.” Shiro flashes him a bright smile, letting their hands drop down to their side, still linked together.

Lance blushes lightly, a light flush dusting the bridge of his nose, “Y-yeah, okay. I can text Hunk right now.”

He pulls out his phone with his other hand and sends a quick text to his bandmates, telling them to leave without him, he’s safe on another bus heading to the same destination. 

“Come on, we have hours before Allura makes us go to bed, let's play Mario Kart!” Matt plops back down on the couch.

Allura huffs as she’s pushed onto the armrest of the couch, “Well I’m sorry for making you go to bed at a reasonable hour.”

“And anyway, Midnight isn’t even early, you should be in bed by ten.” Shiro says, pushing at Matt’s head as he sits down, Lance so close next to him, almost on his lap.

Lance laughs, “at least you guys have structure, we usually just stay up all night, the amount of shows I’ve played on a few or no hours of sleep is a little ridiculous.”

“Not healthy, you need sleep.” Shiro squeezes his hand and Lance leans into him. “You’ll get some tonight, we’ll set you up here, you can sleep on the couch.”

“You should stay with me, I don’t like sleeping alone, the bunks are good because Keith and Hunk are within arms reach.”

“I’ll stay if you want me to.” Shiro looks down at him, touching his nose to his hair.

“I want you too.” Lance smiles, turning his head up at him.

Matt tosses them a Wii controller, “take turns playing, it’s Mario Kart time!”

“Make sure you put the strap on, we don’t want a repeat of the bowling incident of 2015.” Pidge says, securing her own band around her wrist.

Lance gives a confused look but puts it on anyway, pulling his hand away from Shiro’s a bit reluctantly. “Bowling incident?”

“Summer of 2015, Matt, Wii bowling, and a bowl of chocolate covered raisins. Not a good mix.”

Lance can tell there’s a story behind that, probably a long one with many sides that’ll lead into a years old argument breaking out, and they’ll never end up playing the game at all, so he saves his questions for another day.

Matt picks Waluigi as his character for the meme, Allura picks Rosalina, claiming she’s the coolest princess in the game, much like herself, Pidge picks Yoshi, only so she can imitate his voice the entire game, and Lance picks Donkey Kong as his own character.

“Lance, what the hell?” Allura says, pressing start on their game.

Lance waits until the game starts to respond, speeding up and knocking Allura across the track, “big boy.”

Matt laughs so hard he falls off the couch, they have to pause the game so he can recover.

 

They spend the rest of the evening playing various games on their Wii, playing several games of Mario Kart, A round of Mario Party, Lance terrorizing Allura’s town in Animal Crossing City Folk, and a game of Uno that resulted in a literal fist fight between Matt and Allura that had to be broken up by Shiro picking Matt up by the waist and tossing him onto a separate couch as Lance and Pidge hold Allura down.

After that they decided they had enough fun game time for the night.

 

Shiro pulls the blankets off his own bed and takes the pillow, bringing it out to the lounge with him, Pidge gives Lance one of the spare pillows off her bed, he got to choose, as there were about seven fluffy pillows in her bunk, he wonders how she fits in there with so many, but he doesn’t ask, a little afraid to.

They set up in the lounge, moving things around so they’ll be comfortable on the floor together. Shiro sets up their pillows together and spreads the blankets down.

“You don’t have to stay here,” Lance tells Shiro as he lays down, “I’ll be fine, really.”

Shiro rolls back his shoulder, he took off his prosthetic while Lance was gathering pillows from Pidge’s bunk, “No, you asked me to stay, I’m going to stay.”

Lance smiles, resting his head on his pillow, “thank you.”

Shiro turns off the light in the lounge and uses his phones flashlight to find his way back to the makeshift sleeping bag they set up so he doesn’t trip on anything along the way. He lays down and turns the flashlight off, placing it under his pillow.

He pulls the shared blanket up, getting a bit closer to Lance, making sure his shoulders are covered. “Good night, Lance.”

“G’night Takashi.”

 

**July 10th 2018**

 

The next morning Shiro is the first to walk off The PALadin’s bus, Lance following him out, their hands linked together, as they were most of the previous day. Outside the bus there are some fans, they heard them talking from the inside, there isn’t many of them, only around ten, all waiting with their phones in hand, preparing to take photos with the band members.

Shiro drops Lance’s hand without hesitation the moment he sees the fans with their cellphones. Lance’s face falls, he tucks his hand into his jacket pocket and mumbles something quiet to his friends and slips away while they’re talking with the fans, mostly undetected.

After a few minutes Pidge looks around, noticing Lance isn’t there with them, “Hey, Shiro, where did Lance go?”

“Hm?” Shiro looks up from signing a girls arm, “Oh, he left when we first got off the bus, something about Keith and Hunk needing him, I couldn’t really hear him.”

“Odd, didn’t he say earlier he would be free until his set tomorrow?”

Shiro shrugs, pausing to smile for a selfie before answering, “maybe they texted him or something, I don’t know.”

Pidge exchanges looks with Matt and Allura and drops the subject, focusing on all the fans in front of their bus, this topic is something to be handled later, without the risk of fans eavesdropping. 

 

Lance climbs up the steps on D-list’s bus quietly, he isn’t really in the mood for his normal loud entrances. He thought after spending the whole day on the bus he was getting somewhere with Shiro, but he guesses he was mistaken, and they’re just friends, that’s how the older man sees it.

Lance walks into their tiny kitchen to see both Hunk and Keith sitting at the small table, Keith’s head down, arms out resting on the table, with his hands around a cup of coffee.

“Lance? We didn’t hear you come in.” Hunk says, surprised to see him so early.

Lance sits next to him at the round table, snatching Keith’s cup from his hand, taking a sip of the bitter liquid. Keith lifts his head up, giving him a dirty look before taking in his sad expression.

“You good, buddy?”

Lance shrugs, sliding back Keith’s coffee. “Yeah? No… I don’t know.”

“What happened?” Hunk asks, standing up to pour Lance his own cup in a mismatched mug, something they picked up in Kansas a few days ago.

Lance smells the cup, adding a few creamers he stole from a diner they stopped at in Texas, he takes a moment to format his thoughts in his head before starting.

“You know how I spend the night with The PALadins on their bus, right, well it was fine, fun really, I had a good time with them, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with Shiro in general the past month or so, last night he slept with me in their lounge, and that was great. I like him, like, I really like him, he’s so kind, and sweet, and he’s really cute, but god is he  _ dumb.  _ I’m trying really hard to be obvious, I flirt with him a lot, like way more than I flirt with everyone else, I hold his hand, and kiss his cheek, I sit on his lap, I compliment him all the time. I’m trying so hard to get him to notice that I like him more than a friend, but either he’s oblivious as all hell, or he’s trying to let me down without saying anything.”

Keith and Hunk exchange looks, they both feel bad for Lance, hearing about his romantic issues, especially when it’s with someone you’re already friends with.

“I don’t know,” Lance sits back, setting down his half drunk coffee mug, “maybe it’s just not worth it, I mean, at this point we have less than a month of tour left, and we’re from different states, we’re not signed to the same label either, so it’s not like we’ll see each other that often…”

“I think you should say it, just out right tell him that you like him. The worst he can do is say no.” Hunk says after a moment of silence. “You guys are in different bands, and tour is over soon, you’ll have a great time with him now, and you can figure out the rest when tour is over.”

Keith frowns, looking at Hunk. “Well Lance might not want to ruin their friendship in the long run, a relationship, even a month long summer romance, is a big deal.”

“They won’t fuck up their friendship.” Hunk narrows his eyes. “They obviously like each other, so they should just go for it.”

“It could mess up their band and ruin everything they worked so hard for, and destroy a friendship build from childhood.” Keith snaps.

“We aren’t in the same band.” Lance speaks up, breaking their eye contact, directing their attention back onto him. “And we only just became friends the end of June.”

Keith huffs and pushes away from the table, going to the back lounge. Lance frowns and turns to Hunk, who only sighs and rubs his face.

“Go for it Lance, before it’s too late.”

 

Lance slips off the bus again not long after their talk. He stayed around long enough to finish his coffee and gather all the laundry on the bus in multiple baskets. He promises his band that he’d do the laundry, after the hair dying experience, and now seemed like the perfect time to do it, he doesn’t have anything else to do that day, and getting out to gather his thoughts is what he really needs.

He has about three loads to do, having stripped all their sheets off their bunks and taken off their pillowcases. If he does all of this laundry now, they should be good for the rest of tour, since they’re gross boys who re-wear dirty clothes and don’t wash the sheets on their bed often.

The laundromat is empty when he walks in, two washers are taken, and one dryer has a load in as well. Lance finds three open washers in a row and puts all three loads in, there are more than enough washers left in case anyone else walks in, as well as plenty of dryers open for when each load is done.

Lance debates going to walk around the town, maybe grabbing something to eat, but he decides against it, he’s never been one to walk around a new city alone. There’s an empty table tucked away in a corner, he takes a seat there, hard plastic that will definitely hurt his back, and rests his head on his hands, closing his eyes.

He mulls over what his two best friends told him, contrary to what most think about him, he’s not as oblivious as everyone thinks. He’s noticed something has been up with his friends for a while, the sneaking away together, going to bed well after Lance, paired with the looks they give each other when they’re together, this conversation connected the dots for Lance.

He feels a bit bad, complaining about his own problems brought up tension between his friends. He didn’t mean to do it, he only wanted some sort of guidance or advice from the two people he trusts the most, but instead he brought up what appears to be a long going fight.

Lance looks up when he hears the chair on the opposite side of the table him scratch the floor, a high pitched squeak irritating his ears. He finds Keith sitting across from him, two 7-Eleven slurpees in his hand.

Lance smiles, sitting up when Keith slides over the blue slurpee. “What are you doing here?” He asks, taking it in his hand.

“Figured I’d keep you company for a while, you do have three loads of laundry to do.”

“Are you going to help me fold them?”

“Nope.” Keith says with a grin, normally bright white teeth stained a tinge pink from his red drink.

Lance rolls his eyes fondly, “Fine. Where’s Hunk?”

“Out. Didn’t tell me where.”

“You and him okay?” He asks quietly, stirring the blue slushee around.

Keith shrugs, “I don’t know… Kind of? It’s complicated.”

“I’m okay with it. I know you don’t really need my permission or whatever, but for the record I’m okay if you and him are dating, or want to date. It’s not a problem with me, you know, the rest of your band.”

Keith smiles into his cherry drink, “thanks.”

Lance sticks his long leg out and links it with Keith’s under the table, they’re the only ones in the building, but Keith still gets uncomfortable with being affectionate in public, even with friends.

After a few moments of silence Keith pulls out his phone and slides it across the table, “the conversation we had earlier, does it have anything to do with this?”

Lance looks over and frowns, his screen shows a text conversation between Pidge and Keith, a screenshot of a fan account on twitter of The PALadins was sent to him, it’s a post explaining what happened with Lance and Shiro that morning, that they walked out of the bus holding hands, but once they noticed the fans they stopped, and Lance walked away before anyone there could get a picture of him.

Lance slides the phone back over and sits back in his seat, “yeah…”

“He really did that to you?” Keith slips the phone in his hoodie pocket.

“I’m sure it wasn’t on purpose, but it still happened, and it kind of hurt… but it’s understandable, fans can be brutal with this kind of stuff, same reason Allura and Lotor aren’t very public that they’re clearly dating.”

“Still, kind of a dick move, he knew that they were out there, he shouldn’t have taken your hand at all.”

Lance shrugs, “I guess, but what’s done is done, can’t change it. Maybe he isn’t worth it after all, or maybe he just doesn’t know I’m into him and I have to lay seductively on his bus and wait for him to walk in.”

Keith tips his head back and lets out a loud bark of a laugh, “god, now that would be hilarious.”

“Unfortunately it would never work, his bandmates would ask way too many questions.” Lance sighs dramatically.

“You’ll find a way, Lance. Tour isn’t over yet.” Keith says, and Lance, Lance believes him.

 

**July 11th 2018**

 

Lance knocks before pushing the door open to The PALadins bus. He takes the three small steps up and turns to find Matt sitting on the couch in the lounge area, ruffling through his backpack, Lance vaguely remembers Matt promising to spend some time with his sister, just the two of them, that morning before their set begins.

“Hey Matt, is Shiro here?”

Matt looks up from his bag and shakes his head, “no, he’s behind the busses, taking pictures of the sky I think, said something about the clouds.”

“Thanks.” Lance pushes off the side of the wall and jumps down the stairs of the bus, making his way down the field.

Shiro’s laying down on his stomach, a small tripod in front of him, camera attached on top, lens pointed up at the sky, Shiro’s adjusting the focus, trying to snap the perfect photo before they’re blown away.

Lance plops himself on Shiro’s perky butt, the man doesn’t reach other than steadying the camera so it doesn’t move from its position, almost at the perfect shot.

“How can you stay still for so long?” Lance asks, watching Shiro adjust the focus a few more times, waiting for the precise moment to take a picture.

Shiro snaps the photo, tipping the camera to check the viewfinder to see how the photo turned out. “Good things come to those who wait.”

Lance sighs and stands back up, the visit to Shiro short lived, “don’t wait too long, even the sun moves, ‘Kashi.”

 

Their shows that night were great, Lance didn’t bother coming to see The PALadins play as he usually does, Shiro doesn’t think anything of it, it’s not like he goes to every one of their sets.

Later that night, on The PALadins bus, Shiro sits with his band in their lounge, a movie playing on the TV. Lance’s words have been ringing in his ear since he left that morning, and he can’t get them out.

“Shiro, you okay?” Pidge asks, seeing his expression.

“Yeah, uh… Lance said something to me earlier, and I don’t know what it means, it’s been on my mind all day.”

“Oh?” Allura pushes him to continue.

“He said I shouldn’t wait too long, and even the sun moves. I don’t really know what that means though, wait for what? He’s been acting weird lately, since we dyed my hair I think.”

Pidge throws her sticks at his head, huffing. He narrowly dodges them, “Hey! Katie, what the hell?”

“You’re an idiot.” She crosses her arms.

“What?” He asks, genuinely confused and a little pissed at Pidge’s attitude. 

Allura sighs and rubs her face, “Shiro…”

“What?” He asks again.

“Lance is like, in love with you.” Matt says bluntly.

“What? No, no way, that’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. Well, it might not be love, but he sure as hell likes you, and from what we’ve been seeing, we thought you liked him back.” Allura supplies.

“I… what? You’re crazy, no, none of that is true.” Shiro says, denying it all.

“Think about it Shiro.” Matt starts, “he’s always with you, he gives you hugs, holds your hand, he kisses your cheeks, and you, you accept all of it, in fact, you encourage it. You pull him into your lap, you come up behind him and give him hugs, you hold his things even when he doesn’t ask. It was kinda like you were already dating him, just without either of you knowing it.”

Shiro puts his hand on his forehead, processing all that Matt said to him. He closes his eyes and curses, “fuck. Oh, god, I like him. I really really like him, and now, god. I’ve already messed this up, haven’t I?”

“You didn’t.” Allura says softly, “I think he’s just waiting for you to make the first move, you being a little slow in realizing your feelings isn’t a bad thing, but it is why he told you not to wait too long. Lance rarely speaks in metaphors, he’s not Lotor, but when he does they’re not hard to decipher.”

Shiro sits back and sighs, “I hope I haven’t waited too long.”

 

**July 12th 2018**

 

That next night D-List closes out the show, Shiro watches from backstage, his eyes trained on Lance as he jumps around the stage, spinning his bass around his waist and harassing Keith during the guitar solos.

At the end of the show Lance jumps to the very edge of the stage and lifts the microphone to his mouth. “Thank you all of coming to warped tour, and staying for our set! It means a lot to all the bands here, and I know Hunk and Keith appreciate it. All of you have a safe drive home, thanks again for coming!”

He jumps down and walks towards backstage, Shiro immediately putting his arm around Lance’s shoulder and dragging him backstage, away from fans prying eyes, and barely any crew around. 

“Shiro, what are you doing?” Lance looks up at him.

“I’ve been stupid for half of tour, and I don’t want to waste anymore time. I like you, Lance, like a lot, and I’ve been an idiot this whole time and missing everything you’ve been trying to tell me, all the hints-”

He’s cut off by Lance throwing his arms around Shiro’s neck, pulling him down into a kiss. His bass bumps Shiro’s chest as he steps closer, he smells like sweat and looks crazy, his hair and shirt pressed to his skin, but he doesn’t care, he’s finally getting what he wants.

Shiro rests his hands on Lance’s waist, pulling him a bit closer, his back hits the stage, Lance almost stepping on his toes.

Keith walks behind the stage, looking for Lance only to find them making out behind the stage. He crosses his arms, rolling his eyes and clears his throat.

The two break their kiss and push apart, but not too far, Lance has one hand lingering on Shiro’s shoulder, while the other man has his prosthetic still around his waist.

“Hey, this is great and all, you two getting your shit together, but we’re leaving in less than two hours, and Lance needs to help clean up and has to take a shower in the venue, because I refuse to be in the same bus as him when he smells like that.”

 

**July 28th 2018**

 

They’re in Wantagh, New York when Lance’s birthday comes around, and a little over two weeks have passed since Shiro and Lance have gotten together. Those weeks were filled with sleeping on each other’s busses, showing up at each other’s shows, and sneaking away to make out when their small amount of free time miraculously matches up.

Lance sits on top of an amp at one particular The PALadins set, photos of him go viral within the fandom, his jeans cuffed way above his ankles, kicking his feet to the beat, eyes set on Shiro as he plays.

Both Shiro and Lance have been seen walking around tour in each others clothing, more specifically a white denim jacket that mysteriously disappeared from D-List’s bus and reappeared on Shiro.

They’ve taken eyeliner from Keith’s bag and written messages on each other’s arms, something short but written with big letters, it confuses the fans, the words mean nothing to them, but to each other, and the bands on tour its message.

 

After the last show of the night they have the night to hang out around town, leaving in the morning instead of their usual right after the show. The break is to give the bus drivers some extra time to sleep before driving, they can afford it, the next drive is less than five hours, driving in the morning won’t be bad, shows usually start at after ten in the morning.

Keith and Hunk make the executive decision to take Lance out to a bar for his birthday, The PALadins tag along with them, everyone over eighteen can get into the bar easily enough, they only have to sneak Pidge in, they dress her in one of Matt’s smaller hoodies and use his old license to convince the bouncer to let her in. Miraculously the bouncer believed the ruse and let her inside the bar with her friends. 

A few of the other bands on tour with them are at the bar, Lance is friends with a good portion of them, all of them wishing him a happy birthday, buying him cheap drinks that he gets drunk off very quickly, leaning on Shiro almost the entire time, stealing more than a few kisses.

After a few hours word gets out that the bands are at a local bar and soon fans start showing up. Lance and Shiro separate for a bit, they don’t want their relationship to go public when neither of them are quite sure what it is.

Lance finds Keith leaning against a wall, sipping on a jack and coke, talking to a girl who doesn’t look much older than him. He immediately drapes himself across his body. Keith laughs and shifts, propping Lance up, it’s a bit awkward, being the same height, but when Lance slouches, leaning on Keith’s back and resting his head on Keith’s shoulder it’s not bad.

“Hello Lance, having a fun birthday?”

“The best!” He giggles, nuzzling his cheek, “hello there!”

“Lance, this is Kayla, she’s saw our set tonight.” Keith introduces her, “Kayla this is our lead singer, Lance.”

“Hello, Lance. Happy birthday.”

“Thank you! Did you like our set, did you come to warped for us?”

“I liked it a lot actually, I originally went to see The Beezer Bunch and Lotor and the Generals, but I’m glad my friends and I stuck around to watch you play.”

“Thanks!” Lance grins wide, a little lopsided, still very much intoxicated. 

“Your band’s name is D-List, right? Why did you guys pick that?”

Keith snorts and looks back at Lance. Lance shifts his weight off of Keith, wrapping his arm around the other boys instead of leaning across his back.

“Well, if we’re being honest, it’s ‘cause none of us thought we’d be more than D-list celebrities.” Lance’s words are slurred, and he makes elaborate hand gestures to make his point.

Kayla laughs, “that’s actually funny, a great band name origin story, especially since you’re one of the headliners this year.”

Lance nods and rests his head on Keith’s shoulder, “mmhm, it’s been a great summer.” His eyes glancing to the bar where Shiro is sitting, a very drunk Matt leaning on the larger mans side.

 

“Hey, Matt!” A fan sitting across the bar calls, getting his attention, “why is The PAL in The PALadins capitalized?”

Matt perks up, “It’s cause we’re all PALs!” He shouts back, swinging his drink around.

Allura takes it from him, sliding it to Lotor, so he can properly dispose of it, rubbing her temples, “okay, you’ve had enough. Come on let’s get you back to the bus.”

Allura peels Matt off of Shiro’s side and her and Lotor walk him out of the bus with Pidge following, taking as many videos of her brother as possible to use as blackmail later on. He’ll never hear the end of this.

 

Shiro pushes off the barstool and makes eye contact with Lance across the bar. He uses his head to gesture towards the bathroom, Lance able to understand the hint, meets him outside the bathroom door, a secluded corner where no one can see them before they can hear their footsteps.

“Have a good birthday, Lance?”

Lance nods and wraps his arms around Shiro for a hug, “the best, you’re the best. Thanks for coming out with me.”

Shiro kisses his hair, “Of course I did, I wouldn’t miss your twentieth birthday, I’m heading back to my bus, you want me to take you to yours first, or will Hunk and Keith be able to get you there safe.”

“You’re sweet, Kashi.” Lance pulls back from the hug to kiss him gently once, “they can take me back, I’ll be safe.”

“Just making sure.” Shiro presses his lips against him again, soft and sweet, feeling the younger man smile into it. 

He planned on saying a quick goodbye and going straight back to his bus to help prepare for the hangover Matt is definitely going to have in the morning, but staying like this with Lance is a much better option, at least for the time being.

 

Lance posts a photo of himself the next day, he’s hanging off Shiro’s arm with Keith and Hunk behind him both grinning wide. His cheeks are rosy and lips bitten red, and if Lance is being honest he doesn’t remember this photo being taken, but he really likes it regardless of that fact.

He captions it ‘best birthday ever’ followed by a blue and purple heart emojis.

  
  


**August 5th 2018**

 

Lance marks an X on the calendar in the kitchen of his bus. It’s the last day of tour, the last show of the summer. He thinks about Shiro, what this means for them. He doesn’t want to know, he doesn't want to ask.

Summer’s on its deathbed, and he doesn’t want his relationship there too.

 

Lance finds Shiro on a hill behind the stages, it’s still early in the day, everything is being set up. Normally they meet up with each other right away and spend the whole day together, either alone or with some of their friends, but always together. Their bands are headlining, they’re always one of the last to play out the night.

He sits next to him, twisting his arm around Shiro’s lacing their fingers together. “Hey.”

Shiro shifts his weight and rests his head on Lance’s, “Hey.”

It’s a few minutes of silence, tension in the air, Lance can feel it. They’ve been together for a little under a month now, both ignoring the problems that come with the end of tour, questions that need to be answered that have never been asked.

Lance swallows dry, he shifts to look up at Shiro. “Takashi.”

“Hm?” Shiro hums, letting Lance know he has his attention.

He takes a deep breath and sits up straight, rolling back his shoulders, “What’s going to happen after tour ends?”

“Well, we’re probably going back to Chicago, have some stuff at home, and some label stuff too.”

“Oh… yeah I’m probably going to LA with Keith and Hunk, our apartment is there still… our label will probably want something similar to you guys…”

A silence falls over the two of them again, uncomfortable, Lance shifts again, “What are we doing?” He asks, he knows they need to have this conversation, they’ve pushed it off long enough.

“Right now we’re watching the crew set up.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

“We’re having fun, Lance. I am anyway.”

“I am too, these past few weeks have been so much fun, this whole tour has been the best time of my life, the experience, and doing it all with my best friends, meeting you, becoming so close, becoming more than friends.”

“What are you saying, Lance?”

Lance frowns, “It’s our last show. What happens now? What’s going to happen after tour, with us?”

Shiro shrugs, “I don’t know, Lance. I’ll be pretty busy with The PALadins, doing label stuff, you know, the new album.”

“Yeah… we were thinking about a second album too, Keith and I have been writing a whole bunch throughout tour… So, I guess… as for us that means…” He trails off.

“Yeah…” Shiro looks down at him.

Lance is looking at his lap, his hands folded together. He stands up and brushes his legs off, shaking the grass off his lap. “I’ll see you around, Shiro.” He says quietly, turning around.

Shiro frowns, watching him walk away with a sour taste in his mouth. Lance hasn’t called him Shiro in a long time, especially when it’s just the two of them. He doesn't like how it sounds.

 

D-List is the closing band that night. A few of the bands stick around to watch them play, behind the barricade, on the side of the stage. Shiro stands with the rest of The PALadins, his eyes stuck on Lance, watching him play.

Lance is performing with all the energy he has left. It’s less singing and more like screaming. The fans go wild, they’ve always loved when Lance scream-sings his lyrics with the passion he has now.

Performing is Lance’s outlet, he bottles up all of his emotions and lets them all out when he sings, he only sings like this when there’s something itching at his skin, bothering him, when something has him so emotional, upset or angry, his next show will be like this, full of screaming, running around the stage, standing at the edge of the stage, shouting the lyrics back to the fans.

His voice is raspy, it’ll be gone by the end of their set.

Lance grabs the microphone with both hands, his eyes shut tight as he shouts the lyrics to the crowd in front of him. He tips it out to let them finish the chorus of his song before stepping back, wiping his eyes once and pushing the microphone back onto its stand and placing both hands on his bass where they belong, picking up where he left off.

Shiro watches it all, hidden away enough where not many of the fans can see him, he catches sight of his arm, reading ‘FUCKED UP’ in all caps across it, most likely he had Keith write it. 

Shiro knows exactly what’s eating Lance up and it pains him that he’s the reason why.

Before their last song Lance stands to at the edge of the stage, holding the microphone in his hand, “this tour has been amazing, all of you are amazing. This is the best crowd to end this tour on.” His voice cracks a bit, but he laughs it off, “Sorry, I’m getting emotional, just don’t want this tour to end I guess.” He waves his hand in the air.

He steps back, placing the microphone back on its stand and says the name of their last song.

Shiro slips away after he finishes talking, he can feel Allura glaring holes into the back of his head, but he can’t deal with that right now. He can’t deal with anything right now, least of all Lance crying in front of a crowd, knowing he’s the reason why.

They’ll be going off to the airport soon, going their separate ways, D-list will be off to California, The PALadins on their way back to Chicago.

They always knew how this was going to end, that had to have been the worst part.

 

Shortly after their last show everything gets packed up, the bus cleaned out and Keith, Hunk and Lance find themselves on the plane. Keith has the window seat, Hunk in the aisle, Lance’s long legs squished in the middle.

It’s a long flight from Florida to California, each of their seats has a movie screen in front of them. Lance stares blankly at his, he planned on putting on a movie, but as he was scrolling he saw Independence Day, and now all he can think about is the Fourth of July that he and Shiro spent together, how amazing that day was, how it was everything Lance dreamed of and how he’ll never have that feeling again.

Tears spill from Lance’s eyelids, trailing down his face, he doesn’t even notice at first, not until they drop onto his shaking hand in his lap. He blinks and a few more fall down, he’s barely able to register that he’s crying when he feels a large arm wrap around him, knowing immediately it’s Hunk. He feels the armrest on his other side go up and Keith wrap his two strong arms around him, resting his head on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance breaks, the comfort of his two best friends setting him off, his head drops, he turns his body completely into Hunk, burying his face into his chest and silently sobs, everything he had this tour, everything he ever wanted was ripped away from him in one night. The best summer of his life is over.

Keith looks over Lance’s body at Hunk, making eye contact with him, a murderous look in his eyes.

 

Lance can’t bring himself to post a photo marking the end of tour.

 

**August 20th 2018**

 

Shiro has been spending time home in Chicago the weeks after warped tour, he spent some time with his family, reuniting with them and telling them how the tour left, but for the most part he either spend it alone or in the recording room with his band.

Shiro gets settled back in his apartment, alone. He forgot how quiet it can be, alone in his apartment, no one around but his own thoughts. He’s spent a lot of time writing, trying to get the next album something he can be proud of.

When he isn’t writing he’s flicking through TV channels mindlessly, scrolling on his phone through random social media sites. He tries to forget about Lance, and what happened over tour, but it’s hard when most of their fan accounts are talking about them, trying to figure out why they haven’t publicly spoken to each other since tour ended, when all of their bandmates have tweeted at each other, or at a different band a few times.

Neither of them have been quiet on social media either, Shiro will post snippets of new songs he’s working on, videos of Pidge on her drums, Allura warming up her voice, or Matt insisting they need to add the kazoo to their new album.

Lance on the other hand hasn’t been posting his usual daily photo on instagram, he hasn’t been on instagram at all, or even snapchat, something he used to use every day. The only social media he has been using is twitter, once a day, every day, he posts a small saying, something cryptic to anyone who wasn’t on tour. A random sentence that has everything to do with something that happened over the summer, something only his close friends on tour will be able to fully decode.

Shiro knows exactly what each tweet means, most of them are quotes from the days they were together, references to the times they spent alone.

 

**Lance McMeme** \- @DlistLance

‘take me back to the fourth of july’

11:56AM - 07 Aug  2018 - via Twitter

 

**Lance McMeme** \- @DlistLance

‘I feel like a wildflower on a cloudy day’

10:28PM - 11 Aug 2018 - via Twitter

 

**Lance McMeme** \- @DlistLance

‘If only the sun didn’t move so fast’

3:33AM - 14 Aug 2018 - via Twitter

 

Shiro feels like shit, every day is a new tweet that feels like a punch in the gut. He never meant for it to end like this, they never got to say a proper goodbye, they barely had time to say hello.

He thought this was what was best for them, ending it there before it got too serious, but he was wrong, he misses Lance so much his heart aches, all he wants is the other man in his arms again, but he fucked up so bad he’s not sure he’ll get the chance again.

He makes a very impulsive decision, he’s going to California to visit Lance in person, and have this conversation face to face. He starts packing a bag, pulling a duffle bag out of the depths of his messy closet and throwing whatever clothes look clean.

He’s in the middle of shoving a pair of jeans into the carry on bag when Allura opens the door to his apartment unannounced, Lotor trailing behind her. 

She busts into his room, cell phone in hand. “You need to talk to Lance- what the hell are you doing.”

Shiro looks up, he’s momentarily surprised to see Lotor behind her, but lets it slide and slings the now packed duffle bag over his shoulder, “I’m going to see Lance.”

“Oh, so you’ve talked to him? Then why did he tweet this?”

Shiro takes the phone from her and looks at the tweet that Lance posted ten minutes ago.

 

**Lance McMeme** \- @DlistLance

‘I wish you were my bass, not just my friend.’

2:45PM - 20 Aug 2018 - via Twitter

 

Shiro curses softly, handing Allura’s phone back to her, “I really have to go, I have to do this face to face.”

He pushes passed both of them, only to have Lotor catching his arm. “Shiro, what if he rejects you?” He asks softly.

Shiro stands up straight and looks the other man in the eye, “then I’ll come back home, knowing I did something to fight for him. I messed up, I messed up really bad, and I can’t just let this go on. I hurt him, I have to at least apologize. What if this was you, and Lance was Allura?”

Lotor nods and releases his arm, he and Lance never got along too well, especially when Lance thought Allura deserved better, he was like a protective younger brother, wanting the best for his sister. Eventually he backed off, knowing Allura chose him, and there’s nothing else he can do about it. 

Allura sighs, stepping forward and giving Shiro a hug, “be careful, text us when you get there, and don’t push too much.”

Shiro squeezes her back, “I will. Thank you.”

 

Shiro buys a ticket onto the first flight out of Chicago, a straight shot flight down to LA. It’s a four hour flight, he has the entire flight as well as the Uber to Lance’s apartment to think about what he’s going to say. Once he’s in front of Lance’s door, he’s forgotten everything.

Shiro takes a deep breath and knocks on the door, stepping back as he waits for someone to answer.

Keith opens the door and glares daggers when he sees the man in front of him. “What do you want.” He all but spits out.

“Hey Keith.” Shiro gives an awkward wave, “Nice to see you again. Is uh, is Lance home?”

“No.”

Shiro frowns, adjusting the bag on his shoulder, “Oh, well could you tell him I came by? I really need to talk to-”

“Hey, Keith. Who’s at the door- Shiro.” Lance stops dead in his tracks when he sees the door.

Shiro smiles, standing up straight, “Lance, hey.”

Lance shifts his weight, crossing his arms. “Keith, could you give a moment alone?”

“No.”

“Keith.” Lance pleads quietly.

Keith sends another glare to Shiro before pushing off the doorframe, “fine. I’ll be in Hunk’s room.” 

Lance watches him walk away, waiting for him to turn the corner and hear the door shut before he brings Shiro inside, sitting with him on the couch.

“Why are you here?”

Shiro takes a deep breath, “I’m an asshole.”

“Yeah, you are, I already know that.”

“I came here to apologize, Lance. I’m so sorry that I did that to you, I’m sorry I pushed off having the conversation at the end of tour, I’m sorry that I didn’t let us have a real talk about it, I’m sorry that I didn’t fight for you, I’m sorry that I didn’t even try to make it work. I’m a huge dick, and I miss you so, so much, Lance.”

“You hurt me. You didn’t even try to talk to me, you just made it seem like I was a one off fling for you.”

“You aren’t, I know that now.” Shiro says quickly.

“Why didn’t you know it then? What changed.”

“I was away from you. These two weeks have been awful, at first I thought it was post tour depression, that’s something we’re all familiar with, but it was different this time around. My heart hurt, my apartment felt cold, my bed was empty. After your first tweet I realized, I missed you, so much, Lance. I’m sorry. You don’t have to forgive me, but I want you to know I’m sorry.”

Lance sniffs, his eyes stuck on his hands in his lap, “it hurt really bad, Takashi. You just, pushed me aside, I knew after tour it would be different, but I didn’t think we’d just be over.”

“We don’t have to be.” Shiro reaches out and takes one hand in Lance’s lap, “we can try again, I can be better for you.”

Lance wipes his eyes with one hand, “I’d like that… I accept your apology, but it’s going to take me a bit longer to forgive you.”

“I’ll wait for you, I’ll do anything for you.”

“Give me some time, it’s all I ask for.”

“I can do that.” He squeezes his hand, smiling.

Lance shifts and leans over to kiss his cheek, “thank you.”

 

**December 14th 2018**

 

**Lance McMeme** \- @DlistLance

‘Better off as lovers, not the other way around’

10:28AM - 14 Dec 2018 - via Twitter

 

Attached is a picture of Lance sitting in on Shiro’s lap, arms wrapped around his neck, pressing a kiss to his stubble ridden cheek. Matt and Pidge are in the background, throwing tinsel at them, some already in their hair, most in the air, falling down.

 

It quickly becomes one of his most popular tweets.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this fic for SO long I'm so happy I finished it and it's something I'm proud of.  
> Please comment and kudos I thrive of validation   
> You can contact me at [my voltron tumblr Shiroskitten](http://shiroskitten.tumblr.com/)  
> if you're curious about the relationship this is loosely based off of please visit [this powerpoint I made on the history of petekey](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14xHeCyClKS4lAb05QYs7n6exi5KO0ovBeLwb9yNWYkk/edit?usp=sharing)


End file.
